


I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus

by Cefhclwords



Series: Ficmas 2019 [1]
Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Day 1, Ficmas, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Parent Deledier, Parenthood, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-18 13:09:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21761392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cefhclwords/pseuds/Cefhclwords
Summary: Day 1 of the 12 days of FicmasBased on the prompt: “Santa’s handwriting looks suspiciously like yours”
Relationships: Dele Alli/Eric Dier
Series: Ficmas 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1568377
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus

**Author's Note:**

> Hello babies! Merry Christmas here is the first day of my 12 days of deledier fiction!! I hope you enjoy and I am so excited to share these Fics with you now! Thank you to Tina, Callie and Emma and Carmen for helping me with ideas, reading sneak peeks and overall keeping me sane while working on these ❤️

“Daddy!” Harper’s voice squealed out and Eric yawned, eyes scrunched tight with it before he turned to catch his daughter toddling full pelt towards him, her arms extended up for her dad.

“Hey, beautiful girl, what have you been up to?” Eric beamed and scooped Harper into his arms, pressed two little kisses to her rosy red cheeks and carefully spun them around in the office chair so she didn’t see the half-wrapped present on the desk. 

“Thought you were with dad and Hughie? Did you leave those nasty boys behind?” Eric pondered, hoped that his daughter didn’t notice the pile of presents only half-hidden behind the large couch to the left of them. 

“Yeah they are so noisy and I didn’t even need help writing my letter, I did it all myself” Harper beamed and Eric felt his heart squeeze tight in his chest, his cheeks bunched up in a smile as he looked down at his baby girl. She was wearing her Christmas pyjamas, a long sleeve set that was bright red with tiny Christmas puddings all over it. She was so cute Eric couldn’t understand how she was theirs half the time. 

“Oh, you did? Well done sweetheart, did you come to show me? Let’s take a look here” Eric hummed, reached for the piece of paper held tight in Harper’s small fist. The paper was covered in drawings, some stars and Christmas trees, a few squiggles he couldn’t make out but were perfect nonetheless. 

Amongst the various decorations, there was a messily written list of about ten items, three of which Eric was sure were impossible to buy literally anywhere and one item was just the word ‘house’. He wasn’t too sure why his three year old wanted a house, especially when they had a pretty nice one right here that Harper lived in. The rest of the items, however, were safely wrapped and sitting just meters away from them right now, confirmed that Eric and Dele had done right by their baby. 

“Well, Harps this is beautiful, Santa will love the drawings” Eric smiled and Harper looked up to Eric with wide eyes. “He will like them?” She asked, scrambled up to stand in Eric’s lap, kneeing him in the gut on her way. Eric muffled the grunt of pain and kissed Harper’s cheek, the smell of her strawberry shampoo sweet in his nose. “Baby he will love it, the elves will make your presents extra special for you” Eric grinned, tickled Harper’s stomach to make her laugh, her giggle ran out loud in the room, and he spun them around in the chair once before he sat her on his lap. 

“Daddy careful of the list!! Don’t crackle it!” she whined, and Eric smoothed a hand down her back and nodded hard. “It’s crinkle bub, and I didn’t don’t worry, it’s nice and safe” Eric told her, handed her back the list that she took in very careful hands, a happy smile on her face. 

“There we go” he smiled, pet through Harper’s hair, pulled it out of where it had fallen into her eyes. 

Harper’s l hand reached up to push at her soft curls, shook her head back and forth to try and get it away. “Pull it back please” she asked, stuck her little arm up in the air almost hitting Eric in the face. he nodded dutifully, and reached for the sparkly pink hair tie she kept around her wrist at all times when it wasn’t secure in her hair. Eric had a matching purple and blue one around his wrist, at times he had three or four on his arm and maybe a stray hair clip clamped to the bottom of his shirt.

Once Harper’s caramel-coloured hair was tied on top of her head, like a small fountain, she leant back into Eric’s body, her hair tickled the bottom of Eric’s chin. 

“Daddy,” she asked, her voice curious and Eric nodded, hummed a soft “yeah”, pulled him from his thoughts as he focused back on his girl, his hand playing with Harper’s hair. 

“Do you and dad need to write a list too? How will Santa know what you want if you don’t write to him?” She asked, and Eric bit down his grin, opened his mouth to answer when he heard footsteps by the entrance to the home office. 

He looked up in time to see Dele standing in the doorway, Hugh sat on his shoulders with both hands rested on top of Dele’s head for stability. Dele’s hair was messy, tugged out and frizzy like it was at the end of a long day, his facial hair untrimmed and grown out more than usual. He was in the hoodie that Eric wore to bed last night, a dark emerald green jumper that was by far the cosiest item of clothing in the whole house. Usually Eric would fight Dele on getting to wear it on a cold night tonight, but he looked so cute like that, sleepy in a jumper that smelt like Eric’s, their son sitting on his shoulders, Eric could let him have it. 

“Daddy” Harper asked Eric again, reached out to tug on his shirt when she didn’t get an answer from him. “You and daddy need to write to Santa or he won’t know what you want! He can’t get you what you want if you don’t ask” she insisted, a frown of concern forming on her sweet face.

Eric hummed and kissed the top of her head, looked over to Dele who was trying to get Hugh down from his shoulders carefully, clearly struggling with the boy that didn’t want to get down. 

Eric wasn’t sure if there was anything he could put down with pen and paper that he wanted. He had everything he’d ever dreamed standing right in front of him, every wish he held deep down, hidden behind everything else he’d hoped for in life, was this. Everything had always lead back to one day having this, pure content and happiness. Love.

“It’s okay baby, dad and I sent Santa a message of our own too, we did it last night so we would have time to work on yours and Hughies” Eric answered, laughed as he watched Dele finally manoeuvre Hugh to sit on his hip, the boy settling with that. 

“Okay good” Harper smiled, seemingly at peace with the answer as she leant back into Eric’s chest, setting her list down on her lap. 

“I asked Santa for well-behaved children, ones far more polite than the little rascals I’ve got” Dele pouted as he walked into the room to stand beside Eric, his hand came to squeeze Harper’s cheek. “Told you to wait till dad came out to us, he is very busy in here” Dele playfully scolded her, making sure he was stood with his back to the couch so that Hugh wouldn’t notice the presents stacked behind it either. 

“had to show dad my list daddy, he gone so long” Harper whined, her face screwed up in that frown she did when she didn’t agree with something. She was stubborn to a fault, something she got from Eric, and that Dele and Eric had had fun trying to navigate. The facial expression, however, was all Dele, the scrunch of the nose, the set of her lips, the way her brows furrowed in tight. 

“I know bub, that’s ok, but next time you need to check with me ok?” Dele said softly, unable to be harsh on his daughter on Christmas eve. She loved the holidays so much and he knew she just wanted to share her excitement with Eric. 

Eric laughed softly and looked up to Hugh, reached out to tug on his foot. “What about you buddy? Did you finish your list too?” he asked, shuffled his daughter to his left leg and reached for Dele’s hip, tugged on him till he sat in his lap next to Harper, Hugh in Dele’s lap. 

“See daddy, I wrote all of it myself dad only had to help with the spelling twice” the five-year-old beamed, handed his list to Eric to read. Again Eric was thankful to see that most of the items were things he and Dele had purchased for him. They knew that Hugh wanted most of all was a bike, a green bike with white stripes to be specific. It was currently in the garage ready to be wheeled over to the tree once the kids were asleep. 

Dele tilted his head to rest his temple against Eric’s head, watched with a soft smile as he and Hugh talked about the list, their son explaining the drawings he made in the corners, pointing out the green stick figure that was apparently Eric wearing a Santa hat. 

It didn’t take long, only a handful of minutes of chatting, until the kids were yawning, the sugar high and adrenaline of the day getting ready for santa tuckering them out. Harper was slumped against Eric’s chest with her thumb tucked into her mouth, eyes half closed as she watched Hugh and Eric negotiate about how many bedtime stories he could have. Dele hummed when he watched his daughter's eyes finally lose the battle, eyes staying closed instead of lazily blinking back open. 

“Think it’s little bee’s time for bed” Dele mumbled, reached over to brush his knuckles over her cheek, she was sweet like this, sleepy and soft, Dele sometimes couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have his babies. They seemed too good to be true. 

Eric looked down to Harper passed out on his chest and a loving smile bloomed over his face, he rubbed his hand down her back and shared a soft smile with Dele that made his stomach jump, the familiarity of it all. He felt giddy over something as simple as nighttime routine with his husband and kids. 

“Alright Hughie is two stories ok? I gotta get your sister to bed, and you gotta get some sleep so you’re ready for santa tomorrow huh?” Hugh’s eyes glowed at the mention of santa, beamed and nodded quickly, 

“can you read them dada?” Hugh asked Eric, and Eric nodded with a soft smile, “course babe, how about you let dad take you up and get your teeth brushed and into your PJ’s and I’ll meet you there ok mate? Pick out the books you’d like ok?” Eric spoke softly. 

Dele took that as his queue, got off Eric’s lap and shuffled Hugh on to his hip, “Alright H, lets put that letter out for santa huh? We can put Harper’s out too for her ok?” Dele spoke softly to Hugh as he reached up to fiddle with a few of his curls, his son nodding eagerly at the suggestion. 

“Yeah ‘cause Harper is sleeping” Hugh agreed with a nod, took the list from Dele’s once once he’d retrieved it for him. Dele reached down and tugged on the neckline of Eric’s jumper, shared a small smile with him before he headed off with Hugh to the christmas tree to place the kids letters out.

Eric smiled as the room went quiet once more, able to hear the happy babble of his son and Dele’s sweet voice as they chatted on their way out to the living room. His chest warmed at the sounds of his family, and he suddenly felt impatient for tomorrow, wanted it to be Christmas morning already and have Hugh and Harper sprint full force into their room, wake them up squealing that Santa had come, and they had to get up now. He wanted to already be sat on the couch with a half asleep Dele, wearing one of Eric’s jumpers, in his lap with a mug of coffee between his hands, sharing it with Eric in small sips. To watch the kids open their gifts and gush happily about what Santa had gotten them, overjoyed that he got their lists. 

A small snuffle from his chest made Eric snap out of his thoughts, his eyes darted down to the sleeping bundle against his chest. Eric smiled and ran his fingertip down Harpers chubby cheek, careful not to wake her. It had been a big day for her, she was so excited about Santa coming tomorrow she was up at six am sharp, asking Dele if he could take her to see the reindeer. There was a whole Christmas market set up in town, including a reindeer petting zoo, and Dele had promised Harper he would take her to see the reindeer because she wanted to wish them good luck flying all the presents. Dele had been out the door with both the kids by eight with a tired kiss to Eric, who was staying home to wrap presents and get the house clean and ready for the next day when they would have family over. 

Actually having time around the holidays was one of the things Eric loved most about stepping away from football. It was a choice both he and Dele had made when the kids started to get older, they didn’t want to miss the best parts, they wanted to have a family together. Eric had left first, followed by Dele in the next year. The decision had hurt to make, but ultimately both in their early thirties they were ready for a new chapter. Besides, they both hadn’t moved far from football in their next line of work.

Harper shuffled against Eric’s chest and he took that as his que to get his little one to bed before she woke up and asked if Santa had been yet. Eric stood and moved his hand to carefully cradle the back of Harper’s head, let her sleep curled against his shoulder peacefully as he walked her upstairs. 

Harper barely stirred as Eric laid her gently into bed, took her hair out carefully and tugged her covers up to her chest. He made sure to turn on her night light that was plugged in by the end of the bed, a star that glowed pink, incase she woke up at the end of the night, made sure her toy monkey was tucked in beside her. 

Eric reached down to brush his fingertips across her forehead, down to her cheeks, smiled brightly at how sweet she looked like this, so quiet and still, so tiny still, even though she was already becoming her own little person. Eric wondered if it was too early to talk to Dele about them having another baby, about reaching out to their surrogate one more time, just one more baby that was so small they fit perfect in the crook of his arm, one more baby for Dele to teach how to walk and let nap on his chest. 

Eric’s heart squeezed and he had to blink to fight his wet eyes, leant down to kiss his girls forehead before he quietly snuck out from the room, closing the door behind him, running into a warm body when he turned around to head down the hall to Hugh’s room for his bedtime stories. 

“Hi babe” Eric laughed when Dele caught him around the hips, tugged him in to peck his cheek with a smile. “Hi love” Eric smiled, leant into Dele for a second before he pulled back, his hand reached for one of Erics, fingers tangled together. 

“Gotta say night to Harps, I’ll meet you downstairs after? Hugh is ready for his story” Dele whispered, rocked forward on his toes for a soft peck. Eric hummed and wrapped his arms around the low of Dele’s waist for a quick squeeze. 

“Off you go big boy, two stories and then we can finish downstairs and go to bed” Dele muttered, swayed with Eric as the boy cuddled him close to his body. Eric groaned but nodded, and Dele swatted his bum as he passed him into Harper’s room, Eric letting out a soft laugh at the affection. 

Half an hour later, Hugh was safely asleep and tucked into bed, three stories and a kiss to his curls, a cuddle and a promise Eric will wake him up if he sleeps in too late, that he won’t miss Christmas. 

Eric muffled a large yawn into the crook of his elbow, scrubbed over his eyes with the back of his hand as he stepped off the last stair, walked into the living room and smiled at the image Dele made. 

All the lights were off, the only glow in the room was from the fairy lights wrapped around the tree, and laid across the fireplace, casting the room in soft yellow. 

Dele was sat on the couch, curled up with the hood of Eric’s jumper up over his head, a mug held tight between his hands. The kid’s presents were stacked up beautifully around the tree, one side for harper and the other for Hugh, bike and all set up just perfectly, soft carols playing low in the background. 

There were four stockings hung up across the top of the fireplace, a D and E and two H’s, their family hung up on display.

Eric made his way over to the gifts, picked up one of the gift tags with two fingers and read the neat script writing of Dele’s that said “love from Santa” he must have finished up the tags too, his boy was the best. 

With a grin, Eric turned to face Dele, walked over to him and flopped down onto the couch, nudged his head at Dele’s thigh until the boy dropped his legs down and let Eric lay his head on Dele’s lap. 

“Santa’s handwriting looks suspiciously like yours” Eric whispered, a grin painted his lips as Dele placed his mug down on Eric’s chest, one hand holding tight to the handle, his other hand reached to tangle in Eric’s long hair. 

Dele’s laugh was soft and his nose scrunched, “don’t know why that would be handsome, Santa definitely wrote those” Dele muttered, listed his mug to his lips and took a long sip to finish the cup before he leant over to place it on the coffee table. 

“No tea for me?” Eric asked with a small pout, his fingers reached up and caught Dele’s free hand, bought it to his chest and fiddled with his wedding ring, spun it around slowly as he gazed up at him. “There’s a mug in the microwave, should still be hot if you’re quick to it” Dele replied, leant down to press a kiss to Eric’s nose, drew back just enough to press their foreheads together, a small smile on his lips. 

“Thank you bubba, for finishing the presents, for making me tea, all of it, I appreciate you so much” Eric whispered, and Dele’s face bloomed into a gorgeous smile before he kissed Eric in a quick press of lips. 

“Missed you” Dele whispered, “barely got to see you today, you looked so hot in that scarf and I didn’t even get to tell you, and we didn’t even get to watch a Christmas movie tonight” Dele muttered, pressed a kiss to the boys bottom lip as Eric grinned. 

Eric paused a moment, cupped Dele’s cheek in one hand before he ambled off the couch, “alright come here” he breathed and tugged Dele up into his arms, wrapped him up bundled tight to his chest. Eric tucked his lips to the top of Dele’s head, kissed over the fabric of the hood and breathed in slowly, surrounded by the scent of his boy, his husband. 

Dele let out a content sigh, wrapped his arms around Eric’s neck and rested his head on his shoulder. “Merry Christmas baby” Eric muttered, began to sway them gently to the tune of the Christmas carol playing in the background, his hand moved to massage at Dele’s shoulder, thumb pressing in slow circles. 

“Merry Christmas love” Dele breathed back, tilted his chin up to smudge a kiss to Eric’s jawline, nose brushing the skin. 

“We did it, almost another year down, just the day to go” Dele mumbled, eyes drooped sleepily as he pressed tighter to the warmth of Eric. 

“I know, and Hugh only managed to get three bedtime stories out of me, not four, so I’m getting stronger” he laughed, reached two fingertips down to pick up Dele’s chin up for another kiss. 

“My big smart man, braving Hughie” Del laughed, knowing how persuasive Hugh’s puppy dog eyes could be. 

Eric laughed and rolled his eyes, kissed the top of Dele’s head. “Can’t believe how excited they both are now, It’s so sweet they can properly get into it, write their Santa letters” Eric pondered, swaying in a circle to the soft song drifting through the room. 

‘Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe  
Help to make the season bright’

Dele hummed, pulled back and looked up at Eric through his lashes, his gaze soft and pondering, his fingers gripped tight to the fabric of his hoodie, tugged on the fabric as he looked up at him. 

“You ever think…” Dele paused, looked off to the stocking hung over the fire. “You ever think about having another one?” he asked, voice nervous and sweet, unsure. Eric huffed out a sigh, ducked in to kiss Dele soundly on his lips, hands holding his face as he sucked on his bottom lip.

“Another little one? A younger sibling for Harper? More diapers, more sleepless nights, crying, juggling three babies, making formula, having no time together?” Eric asked when he pulled back, heart so full it could burst. 

“Yeah, think that sounds perfect” he muttered after a moment, sealed his words with a kiss to the side of Dele’s head.

Dele beamed as Eric spoke, tightened his arms around him. “Yeah? You wanna do it all again? Make our family bigger?” Dele asked and Eric was immediate to nod, lean in and press a sound kiss to Dele’s lips. He laughed between swipes of tongue, giddy at the idea of having a fifth stocking hanging over the fireplace next year.


End file.
